I read, discuss, and discover new things about cinematography everyday. Most of it, I consider incredibly interesting. Everyday I will share one of those things, maybe more if I have time.

25.5.09

Nicola Pecorini: Jumbo Lights

From American Cinematographer, Gonzo Filmmaking by Stephen Pizzello (May 1998)

"Some years ago, Vittorio saw these landing lights for airplanes, and he began thinking about using multi-point sources in the same types of frames. The guy who makes them, Pippo Cafolla, is Vittorio's longtime gaffer, and his company in Rome is called Iride. Pippo has two sons, Fabio and Daniele, who also work at the company. Fabio has been Vittorio's console operator for about 12 years; Daniele works more as a spark [electrician], but he gaffed for me on Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest. Pippo started out by making these units called Super-Jumbos, which have 24 [600W or 1,000W] lights in them, and Jumbos, which have 16 lights. There are also Mini-Jumbos, with eight lights, and Tornados, which have smaller fixtures [650W Par 36s]. These various units have a lot of kick, and if you place them at the right distance, you will get only one shadow. The lights work on a dimmer system, though, so you have to keep that in mind when you're designing your lighting plan."

The lamps were used in almost all Vittorio Storaro’s movies since they were developed. The light from these lamps gives a nice skin tone, and are very close to natural low sun light. See examples from the movie “Tucker” below, to the right.